


criminal record

by narcissacronin



Category: Renegades - Marissa Meyer
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:20:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22023214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/narcissacronin/pseuds/narcissacronin
Summary: inspired bythis postby@alias-anarchist (tumblr)about nova being chaotic during interviews
Relationships: Nova Artino | Nightmare/Adrian Everhart | Sketch
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	criminal record

**Author's Note:**

> spoilers for supernova!

Nova turned her gaze to Adrian, leaning in to whisper something to him. But as she started to speak, the interviewer had finished up her conversation with Oscar, Danna, and Ruby, and shifted her focus to Nova. Nova froze and straightened her posture, plastering on her best polite smile.

They were in the middle of a live interview on some daytime talk show. Nova absolutely loathed these interviews, having grown up hidden from public view. It felt so strange to have her face and name broadcasted to millions, but the rest of her friends seemed used to it. Though she had had countless interviews in the past couple of months, she still hadn’t grown used to them.

After the Supernova, Nova’s small fanbase had grown immensely.  _ Insomnia  _ had been one of the most popular costumes at this year’s Renegades parade—usually consisting of a normal Renegades bodysuit and a tool belt, though many of them also featured a mask that was strikingly similar to Nightmare’s, despite the fact that Nova had publicly dropped that costume and alias. She had also been told by countless people, young children especially, that they had taken an interest in learning self-defense and hand-to-hand combat, as well as inventing, because of Nova; stories like that always warmed her heart and reminded her of the good she could do. And they also made these annoying interviews worth it in the end. Most of the world saw her as a hero now, and to her it felt strange to be idolized by so many. When she first joined the Renegades, she never could have imagined that life would have amounted to this.

“So, Miss Artino, how have you adjusted to life as a Renegade?” the interviewer asked. “I imagine it must have been quite a change from living with the Anarchist for— how many years was it again?”

Nova cast a glance at Adrian, reaching for his hand. He shot her an encouraging look and squeezed her hand. No doubt, this would be front-page on some gossip magazine tomorrow, gushing over her and Adrian. That had been another result of the Supernova, too. Though their relationship had been closely observed from the beginning, the interest in their relationship had increased tenfold since she was revealed as Nightmare. They were seen as living proof that heroes and villains could get along, that love overpowered hate. But frankly, Nova nor Adrian cared for all that, and they just wished the gossip columns would move on already.

“It was ten years,” Nova said, voice faltering a little. She cleared her throat. “In all honesty, it hasn’t been that big of an adjustment. Considering it’s been almost a year since I first joined, I’ve had plenty of time to adjust, though the Supernova definitely complicated a few things. But there are  _ some _ things that I had to stop doing.”

The interviewer leaned forward a little, brow raised. “Such as?”

Nova let out a nervous laugh. “Breaking the code. When I was an Anarchist, we never really cared for the Council or its set of laws. So to Leroy or...” She trailed off and tried to brush it off with a cough. Even though nearly six months had passed since the Supernova, she still struggled to say Honey’s name aloud. “As I was saying, Leroy didn’t care if I broke a few laws so long as I didn’t get caught.”

The interviewer shifted in her seat, looking slightly uncomfortable. She opened her mouth to speak but Nova continued. If Nova had to suffer through this interview, she might as well have fun while doing it.

“I remember when I was around thirteen, I would frequently wander the city at night. Then one day I got the  _ genius _ idea to climb onto rooftops so I could get a better view of the stars. One night, as I was climbing the fire escape of a building that I thought had been abandoned, someone caught me and told me I was trespassing. I didn’t listen to them and kept climbing. They weren’t able to catch me, though. So I had to wait until morning to climb down and return to the tunnels. That was probably the closest I ever was to getting caught.” She laughed and launched into more anecdotes about her breaking the law and sneaking into places. Though she was silent on some of the more serious crimes she had committed, such as the time she had attempted to assassinate Hugh.

Adrian and Danna kept shooting her warning glances. At this point, the interviewer had grown visibly uncomfortable and kept grasping at straws to change the subject.

While Nova was in the middle of the story about the time she and her then-girlfriend—who had actually been Narcissa, but Nova felt like that was a detail better left out—got into trouble for attempting to sneak into a movie theater, the interviewer suddenly interrupted and practically shouted, “And it looks we’re out of time! It truly was an... _ interesting _ time talking to all of you, and I wish we could chat a little longer..”

The interviewer waved goodbye as Nova, Danna, Oscar, Ruby, and Adrian were ushered off the set and backstage. Already Nova could hear the interviewer hyping the audience for the next segment.

Adrian suddenly burst out laughing and wrapped Nova into a hug. “What was that about?” he half-laughed, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

“What?” She pulled back from him a little and set her hands on his shoulders, unable to contain her own laughter. “You know how much I dislike doing interviews.”

He sighed softly. “Yes, but I’m not sure it’s the best idea to talk about all the crimes you’ve committed, though. I can only imagine what media outlets are going to spin out of this.”

“I don’t care what they say. Besides, it’ll give them something to focus on other than  _ us _ . Do you know how tired I am of seeing a photo of making headlines with some stupid rumor next to it?”

“It bothers me too, you know. But it comes with being in the spotlight. Trust me, I had to grow up with it.” Adrian set a hand on her face, cupping her cheek in his hand. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” She beamed at him and moved a little closer.

He leaned down and kissed her. Nova started to wind her arms around his neck when a chime from her wristband startled her.

She mumbled something about the “stupid alerts” under her breath and pulled away. It was a message from Hugh saying, “Please never talk about your criminal record on live TV again, we’re going to have a talk about this when you get back to HQ.”

Nova bit back a laugh and showed Adrian the message. He rolled his eyes and set an arm around her waist.

“Hmm, what do you say we waste a little time before heading to headquarters?” she said, glancing up at Adrian. “I’m really not looking forward to that conversation.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine, but if you insist.” He said this with a grin.

They said goodbye to Oscar, Ruby, and Danna, then swiftly left.

Nova and Adrian managed to waste over half an hour wandering around the city, reaching City Park. Though their fun was soon spoilt when she received a message from Hugh asking where they were.


End file.
